Friday, February 19, 2016

Peter Zeidenberg, the lawyer who successfully defended Sherry Chen and Dr. Xiaoxing Xi was honored; $18,000 was donated to Sherry Chen on Feb. 16 in D.C. The event was organized by 80-20 Edu. Foundation, New Asian Leaders and National Council of Chinese Americans. About 140 persons attended the dinner, and another 40 donated but didn't attend. This kind of event makes our community stronger, and makes our children more proud of themselves.

When Officer Peter Liang's case was first reported in Jan. last year, 80-20 smelled something fishy. As a result, 80-20 sent out an e-newsletter "Indictment against Peter Liang politically motivated?" Click here to read it.

We did much more. We talked to Liang's first lawyer (Steve Worth), and Liang's two confidants - Doug Lee of NY and Bona Sun of NJ. However, according to Doug, Peter Liang didn't want to talk to us on the phone. So I offered to travel to NYC to talk to him in a restaurant. You know what? Liang backed out of that meeting although I took a specific trip to NYC. After that 80-20 washed its hands of Liang's case. We couldn't help anyone who didn't want our help.

This is a teachable moment. A lot of people still don't want 80-20's help even today, EXCEPT when they are in real trouble. 80-20 is NOT that powerful. We can't jump in to help at the last moment, when the situation is really bad.

We still fervently hope that the other orgs. will be effective in helping Liang, because his convictions are drastically different from those from earlier trials involving police officers. Liang will be sentenced in April, and one of his lawyers said that there could be an appeal.

However, 80-20 is not prepared to help Peter Liang today. People have to learn that their actions have consequences - a necessary step in our community's political maturity and self-empowerment movement.

Think long-term! If someone could repeatedly refuse our help, and if 80-20 still jumps in to help at the last moment, it'll set a bad precedent.

Monday, February 15, 2016

Sri Srinivasan, 48, born in India, and a D.C. Circuit Court Judge, has been mentioned often as a possible nominee. It will be a very smart move by Pres. Obama for reasons to be explained later.

Why is Sri a likely nominee?

A nominee to the Supreme Court needs Senate approval, which involves partisan interests and ideological differences. The Republicans in control of the Senate don't want to approve an Obama nominee, because, after the election, it could be a Republican President nominating a very conservative justice.

Why nominate Sri then? It'll be very difficult for the Senate Republicans to refuse to look at Sri's nomination by filibustering. Why?

(1) Sri clerked for former Justice Sandra Day 0'Conner, a Republican, and

(2) Sri was confirmed by the Senate, less than 3 years ago, by a unanimous vote of 97-0.

Sri's nomination makes it difficult for the Senate Republicans to flip-flop.

Why Is It Such a Smart Move for Pres. Obama?

If Sri wins the Senate's approval, it'll be a win for Obama. If Sri's nomination is filibustered by the Senate Republicans, which seems certain, it'll drive a wedge between the Republican presidential and congressional candidates and AsAm voters in an election year. It is still a win for Democrats. Note: 80-20 always tells it like it is.

80-20 hopes that Sri will be the 1st AsAm Supreme Court Justice

When Sri was nominated for the Circuit Court 3 year ago, there was much talk that his nomination will be blocked by the Senate Democrats then in control. 80-20 worked with many Indian Am. national orgs to induce Sen. Reid to submit Sri's nominations to the full senate, which passed it 97-0. Having an Asian Am Supreme Court Justice would substantially decrease the possibility that AsAms will become the scapegoat in hard times. Note: 80-20 has always worked for every component of the AsAm community. Does every component help 80-20 back? Search your hearts.

(2) 5800+ persons signed a petition for DOJ to conduct an independent investigation to determine whether Chinese Ams. were profiled in economic espionage investigations. The petitioners include 6 Nobel Laureates and numerous leaders of the science, engineering and academic communities. All names have been mailed to A.G. Lynch. Prof. Chenming Hu, a past 80-20 Board Member, did most of the work.

If YOU become a VICTIM of government prosecution purely due to your national origin, would you HOPE that your community will come to your aid?

YOU bet!

So here is the situation. Sherry Chen was a VICTIM of DOJ's cyberspace dragnet. Her case was suddenly dropped just before trial. Her life is in shambles. She has a large debt due to her legal fees and she may still lose her job.

What would you do?

If our hearts are made of stone, we'll say "Tough luck to her." But 80-20 Educational Foundation (EF), National Association of Chinese Americans (NACA) and New Asian Leaders (NAL) think that most individuals in our community have hearts of gold. We should help her to help ourselves.

When we become each other's emergency insurance

policy, our community becomes more cohesive. Soon,

everyone including our children, will be soooooooooo

proud of being members of our community.

The three organizations, with 80-20 EF playing the lead role this time, are co-hosting a dinner for two purposes.